Chapter 317: Utterly Disheveled
"It's over."
Gaara slowly raised his right hand. His five fingers curled inward, clenching into a tight, merciless fist.
He waited for the sickening crunch of bone, the wet burst of flesh and blood being squeezed into paste. It never came.
Instead, the sharp scent of ozone flooded the air. A blinding, jagged bolt of blue lightning violently pierced through the dense sphere of sand from the inside out. The grains fused into glass under the intense heat.
Sasuke had actually used the Chidori to forcibly tear through the absolute restraint of the sand.
"I told you, your ninjutsu is useless against me!"
Sasuke's figure burst into the open air. Wild arcs of electricity crackled across his skin, illuminating his twisted, manic expression as he charged straight toward Gaara.
Why did they receive the Fifth Hokage-sama's favor? Why were they allowed to graduate early?
Meanwhile, he, the undisputed genius of the Uchiha clan, was left to watch from the sidelines like a pathetic clown.
"Taste this! Chidori Sharp Spear!"
Sasuke poured every ounce of his boiling resentment, his bitter unwillingness, and his raw fury into the concentrated lightning in his palm. He roared, his vocal cords straining as he pushed the speed and shape manipulation of his chakra to its absolute limit.
The screeching blade of lightning extended, a blinding spear that accurately pierced straight through Gaara's chest.
Flashes of blue light strobed across the ruined training ground.
A savage, triumphant grin stretched across Sasuke's face. His chest heaved.
It was still him. He was still the strongest.
However, that arrogant smile completely froze on his face a split second later.
There was no resistance. No warm spray of blood. No sensation of piercing human flesh.
The Gaara impaled on the end of his lightning spear began to crack. Like a fragile sculpture left in the sun, the body shattered inch by inch from the gaping hole in its chest, dissolving into a cascade of dry, rustling yellow sand that slipped harmlessly through the air.
Sasuke's pupils shrank to pinpricks.
A Sand Clone.
"You're looking the wrong way."
A voice devoid of any human warmth drifted from behind him.
Sasuke whipped his head around, his teeth grinding together.
"Bastard!"
With a furious roar, he pivoted his body, sweeping the blade of lightning upward to strike at the real Gaara hovering higher in the air.
"Do you think you can escape?!"
Gaara stared down at the charging Uchiha. A cold, dead light flickered in his pale teal eyes.
"You are courting death."
The moment those words left his lips, the sea of sand pooled beneath Gaara's feet violently erupted.
"Quicksand Waterfall Flow!"
The earth groaned. Endless tons of yellow sand surged upward, transforming into a towering, terrifying tsunami that completely blotted out the sun. The massive wave of crushing pressure descended directly onto Sasuke in mid-air.
Sasuke's face drained of color. He desperately tried to twist his body and retreat.
But it was far too late.
The sheer velocity and scale of the collapsing sand wave defied imagination.
The entire Third Training Ground violently trembled under the catastrophic impact. The earth was completely overturned. What was once a flat, grassy clearing was violently swallowed, replaced by a desolate landscape of undulating, shifting sand dunes.
Then, everything fell dead silent.
In the distance, Naruto, Hinata, Temari, and Iruka stood frozen, their eyes wide as they stared dumbfounded at the apocalyptic scene before them.
Gaara stood quietly in the center of the newly formed desert.
Sasuke's figure had completely vanished beneath the earth.
"Sa... Sasuke!"
Naruto's face turned a sickly shade of white, the name tearing from his throat subconsciously.
Iruka stood paralyzed, his breath caught in his lungs, utterly terrified by the sheer scale of destruction.
In the center of the wasteland, Gaara slowly raised his right hand once more.
He spread his five fingers, aiming his palm at a specific sand dune a few meters away.
Then... he clenched his fist.
The surface of that dune immediately began to churn and boil.
A solid, suffocating cage forged from ultra-high-density sand slowly rose from the depths of the earth.
There, trapped in the dead center of the construct, was Sasuke.
He was in an incredibly sorry state. His entire body, from his neck down to his toes, was encased in a thick, rock-hard armor of compressed sand. The pressure was immense, locking his joints in place. He could not move a single inch.
Only his head remained exposed to the open air, his hair matted with sweat and dirt.
"Ho... how is this possible..." Sasuke wheezed, his voice trembling with a toxic mix of pain and shattered pride. "I... the genius of the Uchiha... how could I lose to a freak like you..."
Gaara completely ignored the pathetic muttering.
Undisguised, freezing killing intent poured from his small frame, locking onto Sasuke's exposed neck.
Before Gaara could command the sand to snap the boy's spine, a blur of orange intercepted him.
Naruto flashed forward, planting his feet firmly between Gaara and the trapped Uchiha.
"Gaara, that's enough!"
"Naruto..." Gaara's forward momentum halted. His pale eyes narrowed, a flicker of genuine confusion breaking through his cold facade. "This guy attacked you. He is an enemy. Enemies should be completely eliminated."
Naruto gritted his teeth, his fists clenching at his sides as he shouted back.
"He's not!"
"Sasuke is a bastard! He's an arrogant idiot! But he... he's still a ninja of Konoha! He's my... my classmate!"
"Gaara!"
Footsteps crunched against the sand as Temari and Hinata rushed over, taking their places beside Naruto.
"Calm down, Gaara!" Temari pleaded, her face pale with anxiety. "This is Konoha! You cannot kill anyone here! Hokage-sama is watching!"
"That's right, Gaara-kun..." Hinata added, her voice trembling slightly, though she refused to step back. "Please... please stop. Naruto-kun... he doesn't want to see someone die like this."
Gaara's gaze swept over the three of them, lingering on the girls before finally settling back onto Naruto.
Naruto stood stubbornly in front of the execution block, his blue eyes blazing with an incredibly serious, unwavering light. He wasn't backing down.
"Gaara, trust me," Naruto said, his voice dropping to a steady, earnest tone.
Just then, Iruka finally snapped out of his paralyzing shock. He sprinted across the uneven dunes, waving his arms frantically at the tense standoff.
"Stop! All of you, stop right now!"
Iruka slid to a halt in the middle of the group, gasping for breath, his forehead slick with cold sweat.
"Gaara! Are you crazy?! Uchiha Sasuke is a student of Konoha! If you dare to kill him here, you will be branded a rogue ninja! Have you thought about the consequences?!"
Iruka swallowed hard, trying to project absolute authority. "Hokage-sama will punish him for his mistakes! It is not your place!"
'A rogue ninja...'
Gaara's eyes widened fractionally. He had only just made friends. He had only just found people who looked at him without absolute terror or disgust.
He didn't want to be alone again.
The violent, churning yellow sand around them slowly began to settle, losing its jagged edges.
The suffocating pressure of his killing intent receded like a retreating tide, leaving the air thin and cold.
Gaara looked at Naruto's determined face, then shifted his gaze to Sasuke, who was still locked in the earthen vice, glaring with helpless fury.
Finally, Gaara chose to compromise.
He gently lowered his hand, waving his fingers in a dismissive gesture.
Crash.
The incredibly solid sand prison instantly lost its structural integrity. It disintegrated, turning back into countless grains of loose, ordinary sand that cascaded harmlessly to the ground.
Freed from the crushing pressure, Sasuke's body immediately gave out. He collapsed hard onto the dirt, unable to support his own weight. He coughed violently, hacking up dust, each spasm pulling at his bruised ribs and internal injuries, forcing a grimace of raw agony onto his face.
Before anyone could step forward to check on him.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Two masked figures materialized out of thin air, landing silently on the ruined earth like ghosts. Their porcelain animal masks and dark armor marked them instantly.
The leading Anbu operative bypassed the others entirely, walking with measured, mechanical steps directly toward the fallen Uchiha.
"Uchiha Sasuke."
The Anbu's voice was entirely devoid of emotion. "During the graduation exam, you actively disregarded the examiner's direct orders and maliciously attacked a fellow Konoha Village student, Uzumaki Naruto. The evidence is conclusive."
The operative looked down at the coughing boy. "Your actions have severely violated the foundational regulations of Konoha."
Without waiting for a response, the second Anbu stepped forward. With swift, clinical efficiency, he grabbed Sasuke by the collar and hoisted him up. Sasuke, his chakra depleted and his body battered, was completely powerless to resist.
"Let go of me..." Sasuke rasped, struggling weakly against the iron grip. But his pathetic thrashing was as laughable as an infant's against the hardened Anbu veteran.
"We will immediately report this matter to the Fifth Hokage-sama," the leading Anbu stated, his tone remaining absolute ice. "Your final disposition will be personally decided by Hokage-sama."
Having delivered the verdict, the two Anbu operatives tightened their grip on Sasuke. Their bodies blurred, and with a sharp crack of displaced air, they instantly vanished from the spot, taking the disgraced Uchiha with them.
On the devastated training ground, only the small group remained, exchanging dismayed, heavy glances amidst the massive craters and towering dunes.
"Sigh..."
Iruka stared blankly at the empty space where Sasuke had just been. He let out a long, heavy sigh, the deep lines of worry etching themselves permanently onto his face.
That child, Sasuke... he had ultimately allowed himself to be blinded by his own pride and jealousy, stepping willingly onto the most ill-advised path imaginable.
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